1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display control apparatus and display control method for controlling the display of an image, and particularly relates to a display control apparatus and display control method that display images in each of regions obtained by dividing a single screen into matrix form.
2. Description of the Related Art
The capacities of storage media have been increasing in recent years, and storing a large number of images has become possible even in small electronic devices such as digital cameras. For this reason, an index view function, which displays a collection of multiple thumbnail images in a single screen, can be considered a technique useful for improving the searchability, viewability, and so on of images stored in the storage medium (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-214981). For example, selecting, through user operations, a desired image from the displayed collection of thumbnail images results in the image corresponding to the specified thumbnail image being read out from the storage medium and displayed in the screen.
While increasing the number of thumbnail images displayed in a single screen during this index view improves the searchability, doing so also reduces the resolution of the thumbnail images. Conversely, while reducing the number of thumbnail images displayed in a single screen improves the resolution of the thumbnail images, doing so also impairs the searchability. Enabling switching between the numbers of thumbnail images displayed can therefore address the demands of both of these situations.
Incidentally, during an index view, the selected thumbnail image, or in other words, the thumbnail image to be focused on, is generally highlighted. This highlighting is performed by emphasizing the selected thumbnail by displaying, for example, a selection frame or the like. Performing such highlighting makes it easy to identify the selected thumbnail image.
Conventionally, the position of the highlighting on the screen has sometimes moved when switching the number of thumbnail images to be displayed in an index view. This occurs because the location of the highlighted thumbnail image is based upon what number image that thumbnail image is within the images displayed on the screen. This phenomenon occurs in the case where, for example, when switching the number of displayed thumbnail images, the image in the upper left corner of the screen is fixed and the thumbnail images are arranged using the image in the upper left corner as the origin.
Such movement of highlighting occurring when switching the number of displayed thumbnail images in an index view shall be described in detail using FIG. 1. FIG. 1 illustrates an example of such highlighting movement in the case of transiting between index views in which the number of thumbnail images displayed in the screen differs while retaining the thumbnail image selection. Note that in FIG. 1, each square represents a thumbnail image, and it is assumed that the image corresponding to the thumbnail image that is stored in the storage medium is read out from the storage medium and displayed according to the order of the numbers within each square. In the case where this index view is applied in a digital camera, this order is based upon, for example, the shooting date/time of the image.
The upper, middle, and lower sections of FIG. 1 illustrate examples in which a single screen in index view is divided into two rows by two columns, three rows by three columns, and six rows by six columns, respectively. The thumbnail images in each index view are arranged in order based on the numbers within each of the squares. In addition, in FIG. 1, the highlighting is expressed as diagonal hatching within a square.
Consider, as an example, a case where the thumbnail image in the upper left corner of the screen is taken as the origin, and the thumbnail images are sequentially arranged in numerical order moving to the right of the origin, continuing onto a new row therebelow while maintaining the numerical order. Such an arrangement is generally used as the method for arranging images on the screen. The image used as the origin in the upper left corner is fixed before and after the number of thumbnail images has been switched, or in other words, before and after the screen division method has been switched.
In the two-row-by-two-column arrangement illustrated in the upper section of FIG. 1, the thumbnail image with the number “5”, located in the lower right corner of the screen, is highlighted. When this arrangement is transited to the three-row-by-three-column arrangement illustrated in the middle section of FIG. 1, the thumbnail image with the number “5” moves to the center-left of the screen. Furthermore, when the arrangement is transited to the six-row-by-six-column arrangement illustrated in the lower section of FIG. 1, that thumbnail image moves to the vicinity of the center in the top of the screen.
In other words, in the example in FIG. 1, each time the number of displayed thumbnail images is switched in the index view, the location of the highlighting jumps from one end of the screen to the other, starting at the lower-right corner of the screen, moving to the center-left of the screen, and then moving to the vicinity of the center in the top of the screen. A user may thus lose sight of the highlighting if the location of that highlighting in the screen jumps when the number of displayed thumbnail images is switched during the index view. Thus, the conventional index view display method has a problem in that switching the number of thumbnail images displayed may impede the smooth viewing of the thumbnail images.